Media History, Media Production, Media Culture

To alter Wittgenstein, we 21st century humans live in media like a fish lives in water.  Media is environment, and like all environment it is dynamic, changing and evolving. The study of the history of media generally and the history of invidual media suggests certain patterns to the evolution of media. Today we will consider the circumstance of the American Cinema, its history, technology, production, fan culture, auteurs, social history, etc. In short, the complex intersections on which indivdual works are situated. We will talk about how to describe works in terms of this situation. We will consider the idea that the study of media is the study of a series of cultural events and how media itself frames our perception of those events. We will be led to describe the optic of media and examine the terms and frameworks of our description.

This week's reading was Nathanael West's Day of the Locusts. We will take some time in this week's class to discuss the novel and the myths and realities of Hollywood, the film industry and the medium of the movies with an eye to considering what the study of movies and of individual films can tell us about the study of media in general.

For additional reading one can read an early example of American cultural criticism, Gilbert Seldes Seven Lively Arts.